


The summer we were fifteen (technically Haru was sixteen…barely)

by ladyzeia



Series: Coast Guard / Open Water AU [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Emotionally well-adjusted teenagers, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Still awkward though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-11 18:45:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15321864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyzeia/pseuds/ladyzeia
Summary: Rin and his family come back to Iwatobi for a week of summer vacation, with his dad on leave from Coast Guard duties.  He wasn't expecting to see his sixth-grade relay teammates...  Turns out his gigantic crush on one Nanase Haruka wasdefinitelystill a thing, even three years later.





	The summer we were fifteen (technically Haru was sixteen…barely)

**Author's Note:**

> This piece is purely indulgent fluff, especially the bits with Rin and his dad. Background in companion piece, [Red sky at morning](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15246648), but can stand-alone as well.

“Dad, look!  They’re both still here!”  Warmth and pride filled Rin’s chest as he stood in front of the picture wall at Iwatobi Swim Club, looking between the decades-old photo of his father’s relay team and the one of him, Makoto, Nagisa, and Haru—from their first-place medley team, three years ago.  “Do you remember?”  Rin was taller now than in the picture, steadily filling in and broadening through the shoulders, a little more each year.  And his voice had finally stopped cracking, _thank God_.  But he could still remember the race like it was yesterday—with Nagisa in the water ahead of him and Haru in line behind him, cheering raining down from the stands and his family calling his name as he snapped the strap of his goggles, a grin on his face as he bent to grip the block—

“Remember?”  Rin’s father chuckled, coming even with him.  Rin was up to Toraichi’s shoulders now; in a couple of years, he’d be taller than his dad—he could feel it.  “It was all you talked about for a month.”

Rin blushed.  Yeah, that was probably right.

Toraichi slipped his hands into the pockets of his shorts, rocking back on his heels.  “If I recall correctly, you even wrote about it in your sixth-grade essay—”

“I did _not!_ ”

Red-brown eyes sparkled with mischief.  “Shining something or other—”

“ _Ugh_.”  Rin dragged his father away from the wall of pictures, strong enough now to knock his dad off balance.  “Come on, Old Man, we’re racing.”

“If I win, you’ll recite it for me, right?”

“No!”

…Stepping into the blue-white pool deck was like going back in time three years.  Nothing had really changed from the sun streaming in through the windows, the banners on the walls, and parents in the stands watching their kids’ swim practice.  The eight-lane pool was roped up with the backstroke flags in blue and white stretched across both ends.  The closer lanes were being used for swimming lessons, but the farther lanes—closest to the windows—were free. 

Rin clutched his goggles and swim cap in one hand, striding behind the blocks in his black and red jammers.  “Hurry up, Dad!”

His father was _poking_ along, stretching his arms overhead as he followed in black swim trunks, white laces tied at the waist.  “Gotta let an old man stretch, Rin.”

“ _Fine_ , we’ll warm up first.”  Rin approached the block on lane seven.  “Two hundred, then I’m creaming you in the free—”

“ _Rin_ -chan?”  The voice came from the pool, one lane over.

Rin’s eyes widened as he stared down into a familiar face, pool water running through wet blond curls framing ruby eyes and a mouth forming an O-shape.  “Nagisa?”

“Rin-Rin!”  Nagisa broke into a grin, hoisting himself out of the pool.  At fourteen (nearly fifteen), he was shorter than Rin and still on the small side, though he’d definitely grown since they’d last seen each other.  “You’re back!”

“Eh, just for the week.”  Rin rubbed the back of his neck, Nagisa glomming onto his arm like usual and sending droplets of water to sprinkle his torso.

“Aww.”  Nagisa pouted, rubbing his cheek on Rin’s shoulder.  “You’re leaving that soon?  To, uh…”

“Nagoya.”  Rin dropped his hand, smiling.  “Though my dad’ll probably get transferred in another year or two.  We’ll end up somewhere like Yokohama or Miyagi…”

“But that’s so _far_ …”

Sure, but even Nagoya was far.  Since Rin’s grandmother passed away, they rarely came back to Iwatobi anymore. 

“Ah, Matsuoka-san!”  Nagisa released his arm, straightening up into a salute to greet Rin’s dad.

Toraichi returned the salute.  “At ease, Hazuki-kun.”

“Ahhh, so cool!”  Nagisa broke into a little squeal, Rin’s father chuckling as he passed them for the block on lane eight.

Rin sighed.  “It’s like this,” he said, correcting Nagisa’s hand placement ever so slightly.

“Oh, yes _sir_ , Cadet Rin-Rin,” Nagisa said, laughing.

Rin flicked his eyes towards the ceiling, clucking his tongue.  “The Academy’s after high school.  I’ll apply in a couple years.”

Nagisa inhaled, his eyes sparkling.  “You’re really doing it—following your dream.”

“Heck yeah, I am!”

Rin’s dad cleared his throat, giving him a pointed look from the lane eight block that was clearly, _Language._

Rin ducked his head in an appropriately penitent gesture (he hoped).

His father exhaled and dove in.

Nagisa giggled, once more attaching himself to Rin’s arm.  “But you’re not giving up swimming, right?  Because Haru would be sad.”

“Of course _not_ ,” Rin said, his face heating automatically at the mention of that name.  He propped a hand on his hip.  “The Coast Guard swimmers are the best if you think about it.  It’s one thing to be fast in the pool; it’s something else to be fast in the ocean with a ton of rescue gear and someone’s life depending on you.”

“Wow!”  Nagisa gazed up at him, starry-eyed.  “I bet you’ll be the best there is.  ‘Cause you’re already _so_ fast.”

“Well, that _is_ the goal,” he said, grinning.

Someone behind them caught Nagisa’s gaze, the blond stretching onto his tip-toes and waving vigorously.  “Mako-chan!  Look who’s here!”

Rin turned, having to look up to meet startled green eyes.  “Makoto?”

“Rin!”  Makoto joined them in green and black jammers.  His voice had changed and the breadth of his shoulders instantly made Rin jealous.  “It _is_ you!  How are things in Nagoya?  How’s your sister?”

Rin internally quirked a brow at the mention of his sister, but let it slide.  “She’s off with my mom right now.  Nagoya’s awesome!  It’s great living in a big city.  There’s so many sights to see, so many things to do.  Just the other day, we went down to the aquarium and—”

“Were there penguins?”  Nagisa pressed in, eyes wide.

“Tons!  There’s also a deep-sea research boat you can tour.  It’s not as cool as the _Shikishima_ -class patrol vessels, though.”

“You’ve been on one?!”

“Yeah!  They can carry _two_ Eurocopters, not to mention the armaments.  And the ships’ range is huge, compared to…”  Rin trailed off as the swimmer in lane six caught his attention.  It was just a glimpse out of the corner of his eye, nothing that should have distracted him at all.   _But_ —

The air and words got trapped in his lungs, his stomach tightening like someone had punched him.  _No way…_

Nagisa noticed, breaking free and hopping behind the block.  “Haru-chan!  Look who it is!”

Rin swallowed hard, working moisture back into his mouth.  “I thought he was in Sapporo,” he murmured.  As far as he knew, Haru had moved to Hokkaido with his parents not long after Rin left Iwatobi.

“Haru comes back with his family for summer break, once a year.  There isn’t much of a beach in Ishikari, not like here.”  Makoto smiled.  “You know Haru can’t live without the water.”

Rin’s breath came out slowly as Haru swam long strokes of free to the end of the pool, touching the wall and popping up.  He raked off his cap and goggles, clearing the water from his face with a shake of his head, his wet black hair glossy under the array of overhead lights.

Rin met water-blue eyes and forgot how to breathe all over again.  His mind was suddenly full of races and relays and their desks side-by-side in their Iwatobi Elementary school classroom…  That one winter, when Rin’s family lived with his grandmother in Iwatobi, was a treasure trove of memories—swim practices and sleepovers…and clutching Haru’s hands with shaking fingers while the heavy rain sheeted against the windowpanes.  _My dad almost died in a storm like this,_ he’d whispered, Haru’s face in the dark bedroom blurred by Rin’s tears, dripping onto their shared pillow.  _Until I saw him on the deck of the coast guard ship, I was so sure he was dead._

It _all_ flooded back, Rin mute and breathless as Haru’s eyes widened slightly.

Makoto came to the rescue as usual, reaching down over the block.  “Good swim, Haru-chan?”

“Lay off the -chan, Makoto,” Haru said, his voice unmistakably adult as he grasped Makoto’s hand.

Rin couldn’t help looking.  They’d competed in everything as kids.  Water sluiced off Haru’s frame as he climbed out of the pool, wearing black jammers with slashes of purple and white.  Soon, they were standing eye-to-eye; the centimeter height advantage Rin used to have was gone at the moment, their shoulders matched in breadth.

“Haru…”  The name came out in a completely unintentional whisper, heat creeping into Rin’s cheeks.  _Didn’t I always call you Nanase?_

“Rin.”  Haru smiled.

Rin’s knees went weak.

* * *

The four of them were inseparable the entire week of Rin’s stay in Iwatobi.  Sometimes Gou joined them, but mostly it was just their relay team, swimming in the pool or in the ocean, descending on each other’s houses for impromptu sleepovers, watching scary movies and playing video games long into the night.  Being with Makoto and Nagisa was fine, but somehow Rin was hyper aware of Haru every time they were in the same room, especially when they were close enough to touch.  None of it stopped him from throwing his arm around Haru’s shoulders or tackling him like Rin always used to do, but whenever Haru looked at him, Rin’s heart leapt into his throat.  Whenever he _smiled_ , Rin melted inside ( _You never used to smile…)_ and when they touched—even an incidental, passing brush of hands reaching into the popcorn bowl at the same time—Rin’s skin burned, a warmth like fire running through his nerves.  He piled on the antiperspirant, even though they all just smelled like chlorine anyway, but nothing stopped his palms from going clammy any time Haru was next to him.

Rin had seen enough sappy Disney movies to know what he was feeling.  His dad’s teasing only made it worse.

_“I was there, Rin.  That first swim meet when you were ten?”  Toraichi smiled, turning the page in his newspaper.  “You’ve had a crush on Nanase-kun ever since you lost that race to him.  You wear your heart in your eyes, Son.”_

_It was just the two of them in Rin’s grandmother’s kitchen.  Gou and his mom were outside in the garden._

_Rin worried his lower lip with the tips of his adult teeth.  “He’s a boy.”_

_Toraichi glanced at Rin over the rims of his glasses, his gaze warm.  “So?”_

The week was drawing swiftly to an end.  Soon, Rin and his family would return to Nagoya, where his father was stationed.  Haru and his parents would fly back to Hokkaido and all Rin would be left with was a box or two of chocolates from Nanase-san’s work.  He didn’t want it to end like this, but the thought of _confessing_ was even more terrifying.  Rin didn’t _dare_ hope that Haru felt anything remotely similar (He was always just tolerating it, right?  Whenever Rin slung an arm around him and prattled on about such and such being romantic…).  At worst, though, if he were disgusted or something, Rin didn’t know how he’d survive. 

He sighed at his reflection in the mirror, trying to focus.  His father’s old yukata fit him just right, rescued from the closet in his grandmother’s house, in the room that had been Toraichi’s growing up.  It was deep brown with a subtle red stripe that didn’t clash with Rin’s hair.  He tied the navy-blue sash himself, using the full-length mirror in the master bedroom while his mom helped Gou get dressed in the room next door.  They were all going to the annual squid festival, just like they had every year growing up.  Rin had plans to meet the guys.  It would be the last time he saw them until God knew when.  Another three years?  Longer?

Last time they’d said goodbye, he’d still been flying high from their relay victory, ecstatic over his father’s new job with the Japan Coast Guard and all that he’d get to see as they traveled.  He’d promised to write and meant it, but he was never brave enough to pen a single word to Haru.  Makoto was the only one he’d kept up with and even then, it wasn’t often or in much real detail.  This time wasn’t likely to be much different.

 _So I really should…_   Rin’s face turned red at the thought, matching the color of his hair.  “Ehhh.”  He turned away from the mirror, tugging on a few strands of hair to try to hold himself together.  It didn’t really work, so he ran across the hallway into the bathroom, grabbing the deodorant instead.

-x-

“Rin-Rin, you made it!”  Nagisa waved with both arms, the sleeves of his striped, orange yukata dancing about. 

“Ahh.”  Rin rubbed the back of his neck, laughing lightly.  “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“It’s OK.  We just got here,” Makoto said, smiling in his olive-green yukata.

Haru was looking longingly at the ocean (no surprise), in a blue yukata with gray striping and a dark red sash.  A slight breeze sifted through his hair.

 _I’m staring._ Rin, reluctantly, tore his gaze away.  “What, uh, should we do first?”

“Candied apples!  Yakisoba!”  Nagisa pointed from one colorful booth to the next, naming the various food options.  “Saba curry—”

Haru’s head snapped around.  “Where?”

Rin chuckled.  Some things never changed.

-x-

Once they’d eaten their fill, they wandered around the various game stalls, only lingering at the ones involving water.

“Or we could go swimming,” Haru said for the fifth time.

“Haru, we swam _all day_ ,” Makoto said, sighing.

Haru frowned, looking at the beach again.  “In the pool.”

Rin gnawed his lower lip.  He _was_ wearing his jammers under his yukata, after all.  At the far end of the dock, festival staff were working on the fireworks barge; the show due to start any minute.  The sandy beach was in between, the ocean waves lapping like silver ribbons against the shore while the water reflected starlight.

“Haru.”  Rin’s heart was pounding, his palms already starting to sweat.

Haru met his gaze, blue eyes holding his expectantly.

Rin grinned.  “Race you to the water?”

Haru’s eyes shimmered; a split second later, they were running—

“ _Oi_ , you guys!”  Makoto’s voice faded into the distance as their sandals slapped the walkway.

They dodged festival-goers right and left, spilling onto the sand.  Rin kicked off his sandals, pulling the end of his sash without slowing; Haru, next to him, did the same.  The adults nearby merely shook their heads, muttering something about teenaged boys Rin only half heard.  They stripped down to their jammers and sprinted for the waves, running into the pleasantly cool seawater until it was deep enough to dive. 

Rin popped up in chest-deep water, catching his breath, gasping with the rush of adrenaline as Haru surfaced beside him.

“I won,” Haru said.

“You did not.”

Either way though, Haru looked pleased, Rin soaking up every second— _especially_ the subtle smile in Haru’s eyes. 

“Haru-chan!  Rin-chan!”  Nagisa was yelling from the beach, well back from the waves.  “We’re gonna watch the fireworks from the hill.”

Rin’s heart had never really stopped pounding.  He glanced at Haru.  “Wanna go?”

Haru pursed his lips.  “Not really.”  He ducked underwater again.

Rin cupped his hands around his mouth.  “We’ll catch up.”

“Okay!”

“Be careful!”  Makoto waved.

Rin waved back.

No one had to warn him about water safety.  (They’d kept the bright red life jacket Rin’s dad had been wearing that day.  His mom joked about framing it, but Rin knew she was a little serious, too.)  He turned back to the sea, moving close to Haru and finding an arm underwater.  “Haru.”

Haru stood up again, shaking the droplets from his face and hair.  “Hm?”

“Stay close, OK?  It’s dark.”

Haru read his face with a flick of blue eyes and nodded.  “OK.”

The first launch echoed across the bay with a hearty thud, followed by a high-pitched whistle.  The firework exploded overhead in a golden starburst, shimmering across the surface of the water.  Ooh’s and aah’s reached them from the walkway in the distance, mostly lost in the pops and sizzles of the fireworks.

Rin wasn’t sure exactly when his grip on Haru’s arm had become a grip on Haru’s _hand_ , but he suddenly realized they were holding hands and _alone_ and far out of earshot of anyone else. 

And Haru didn’t seem to mind.

The next three fireworks were blue and red and purple, with secondary bursts of silver or gold.

Despite being surrounded by water and tasting the salt in his mouth, Rin’s throat went dry.  He’d never get another chance like this—being here with Haru, surrounded by the gently lapping waves, while the fireworks shimmered off their wet skin and the glossy black of Haru’s hair.  _Now or never, Matsuoka.  Come on, you got this._

Rin cleared his throat as best he could, making his voice loud enough for Haru to hear him.  “Na, Haru.”

Haru had been watching the fireworks reflected on the waves.  At Rin’s voice, he lifted his gaze, looking over—patient, calm, waiting.

Rin’s pulse pounded in his throat as he tried to summon the words…but his courage fizzled under a burst of emerald green, his cheeks burning.  “Do you think we’ll always be friends?”  The words came out in a ramble and they were lame and not the right words at all.  “Even if we’re, like, far apart?”  _Matsuoka, you’re so dumb._   Rin wanted to sink down under the waves and hold his breath for two whole minutes—

Until Haru’s smile cut through his nerves in an instant.  “Ah.  Even if we’re not in the same place, we’re connected.  By the water.  By the team.”  A pink firework popped overhead, bathing them in a soft glow.  “You taught me that, Rin.”

Rin’s eyes blew wide, his mind and heart filled with _Haru_ —only Haru.  He threw both arms around Haru’s shoulders, hugging his friend impulsively.  “Haru…”

Everything in Rin’s head went blank when Haru’s arms circled his waist beneath the waves.

Their faces were so, _so_ close; Rin could feel the soft plumes of Haru’s breath against his lips, the air between them moist and salty.  Droplets of water dripped from Haru’s hair, running down the side of his cheek, gliding past the edge of Haru’s mouth.  Rin couldn’t look away.  He tightened his arms, his feet curling into the sandy bottom of the bay as he leaned closer still…  Their noses bumped and Haru still didn’t pull away…

One centimeter more and their lips were touching, all gentle pressure, damp with saltwater.  It was four racing heartbeats at most before another thud vibrated through the water, sending the next firework shooting over their heads.  Five multi-colored starbursts filled the sky above them, jarring Rin out of the moment. 

He jumped back, stunned at himself, hearing Haru’s quiet exhale, face-to-face with the startled look in blue eyes.  _Oh no, why did I do that?  Why did I just—_

Cheeks _on fire_ , Rin broke free, his voice coming out in a stutter.  “I-I’m sorry, I, uh—”

But hands—warm and solid—found his arms, drawing him in—

Rin’s gasp was cut off by Haru’s lips, by Haru _kissing him back—_

He was too surprised to do anything but keep still.  When it was over, Rin dared to breathe again, shyly looking at Haru.  The flush in Haru’s face had nothing to do with a red firework shimmering over them; Rin knew his face was most likely the same color, if not worse.  But the second their eyes met, all the shyness and uncertainty vanished.  They broke into self-conscious laughs in unison and Rin knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he didn’t care—not with the sparkle in Haru’s eyes and the smile on Haru’s lips.  The words he’d tried to say didn’t need to be said.  Finding each other’s hands amidst the waves, they went back to watching the fireworks, as if everything in their worlds hadn’t changed in that moment.

But everything definitely had.


End file.
